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Joachim Kuhs, MEP
EU Parliament
Wiertzstraat 60
B-1047 Brussels
Echo Chamber:
The Quango Feedback Loop
Issues of Concern
with the EU Budget 2019
by Joachim Kuhs, Rapporteur
EU Commission Discharge 2019
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 1
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de2
Echo Chamber:
The Quango Feedback Loop
Issues of Concern with the EU Budget 2019
by Joachim Kuhs, Rapporteur for the
Discharge of the Commission Budget 2019
Executive Summary
The EU Commission funds a vast array of “Non-Governmental” Organizations (NGOs) which
are almost exclusively left-wing, and lobby EU member governments and the EU itself to
further their political agenda and lobby for more funding, thus creating a taxpayer-funded
Feedback Loop and Echo Chamber that unfairly discriminates against conservatives and
violates EU obligations to political neutrality.
These “civil society” NGOs are often related to the left-wing network centered around the Open
Society Foundation (OSF) and associated organizations, which have fine-tuned the practice of
siphoning off taxpayer Euros for political lobbying in favour of a left-wing agenda of No
Borders, illegal migration, lawfare and media campaigns against conservative politicians and
opinions, which are delegitimized as so-called “hate speech”.
Far from being “Non-Governmental” Organizations, many of these NGOs have thus become
quasi-governmental bodies (Quangos) that the EU and governments use to outsource their
political agendas and activism at taxpayer expense, while attacking and undermining
conservative governments in EU member nations and abroad, especially in the State of Israel.
We have identified €34,185,722 in 2019 EU Commission grants going to NGOs known to be
related to OSF. Due to lack of transparency, the actual figure is probably much higher.
Together with funding for projects with rogue dictatorships and terror states, we have identified
€471,774,222 in EU funding for problematic projects and organisations 2019.
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 2
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de3
Echo Chamber:
The Quango Feedback Loop
Issues of Concern with the EU Budget 2019
by Joachim Kuhs, Rapporteur 2019
Contents
1. European Union Page 4
1.1. EU funding for the European Council on Foreign Relations
1.2. EU funding for “Civil Society” QUANGOs
1.3. EU funding for Radical Islam
2. Israel Page 6
2.1. EU Funding for NGOs in the Palestine Authority with Ties to Terror and BDS
2.2. EU Funding for NGOs that Interfere with Israeli Democracy
2.2.1. Funding for Lawfare against the Israeli Prime Minister
2.2.2. Funding for Violent Protests in Israel
2.3. EU Funding for Left-Wing Israeli NGOs in Area C
2.4. EU Funding for Illegal Settlements in Area C of Judea and Samaria
2.5. EU Funding for UNRWA
2.6. EU Funding for the PA
2.7. EU Funding for Palestinian Universities with Hamas Ties
3. Balkans Page 10
3.1. North Macedonia
3.2. Kosovo
4. China Page 11
5. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela Page 12
5.1. Iran
5.2. Cuba
5.3. Venezuela
6. South Africa Page 13
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 3
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de4
1. European Union
1.1. EU funding for the European Council on Foreign Relations
The EU Commission funded the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), which
pursues a pro-migration and anti-Israel agenda, with €29,930 in 2019 for the “ECFR Project
on European Sovereignty”, while the ECFR consistently attacks the sovereignty of member
nations like Poland and Hungary.
The ECFR counts many leading center-left politicians among its members and was co-founded
2007 by German Green leader Joschka Fischer and Mabel van Oranje, then-director of EU
affairs of the Open Society Institute in Brussels. It plays a very prominent role in formulating
EU policy. Thus the EU is paying the ECFR to lobby the EU, creating an ECFR Echo Chamber
in Brussels and throughout the EU. The ECFR refers to Israel as the “occupying power” and
as an “Apartheid state”, and opposed the Trump Peace Plan, which led to the historic Abraham
Accords.
1.2. EU funding for “Civil Society” QUANGOs in the EU
The EU Commission funds left-wing “civil society” NGOs that pursue a one-sided political
agenda, in support of “No Borders” policies and illegal migration, and against conservative
politicians, opinions, media and organizations. These “civil society” NGOs, which are often
related to the left-wing network centered around the Open Society Foundation, received over
25 million taxpayer Euros from the EU Commission 2019 in EU states alone.
This funding 2019 includes:
€172,832 Associazione Antigone (Italy)
€967,298 Associazione Ricreativa e Culturale Italiana (ARCI) (Italy)
€267,392 Centar za mirovne studije / Center for Peace Studies (Croatia)
€81,363 Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden)
€88,379 Coalizione Italiana per le Liberta e Diritii e Civili (CILD) (Italy)
€129,691 Eesti Inimõiguste Keskus / Estonian Human Rights Center (Estonia)
€887,410 Helsinki Committees
€38,118 Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka / Helsinki Foundation for Human
Rights (Poland)
€17,847 Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (Hungary)
€56,928 Irish Council for Civil Liberties (Ireland)
€157,493 Lithuanian Center for Human Rights (Lithuania)
€281,797 Mirovni Institute / The Peace Institute (Slovenia)
€96,617 Nederlands Juristen Comite voor de Mensenrechten (Netherlands)
€31,112 Neue deutsche Medienmacher (Germany)
€75,001 Open Democracy (UK)
€211,237 Open Knowledge Foundation (UK)
€117,420 Open Knowledge Foundation (Greece)
€15,000,000 Tides Foundation
€6,465,412 Transparency International
€25,143,347
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 4
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de5
1.3. EU funding for Radical Islam
The EU Commission funded NGOs with ties to radical Islam, such as the Muslim Brotherhood,
which supports a program of Islamisation in Europe and has close ties to terrorist and anti-
Israel organisations, with at least €1,869,141 in 2019.
EU funding 2019 included:
€550,000 for “Islamic Relief Germany” for earthquake and flood emergency response
programs. Although it purports to be a kind of Islamic Red Crescent, “Islamic Relief” has ties
to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood. In Spring of 2020, the German Foreign
Ministry suspended cooperation with “Islamic Relief Germany” after a three-year probe by the
Federal Court of Auditors. In September 2020, German charity “Aktion Deutschland Hilft”
suspended cooperation with Islamic Relief due to revelations about its Muslim Brotherhood
ties.
€14,398 for the “Forum of European Muslim Youth & Student Organizations” (FEMYSO).
FEMYSO is a front organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, the German Bundestag Research
Service wrote in 2015. FEMYSO in turn acts as a lobbying organization in Brussels, protesting
against the new EU commission 2019, calling it “not diverse“ enough and therefore “far-right.“
So the EU is paying a Muslim Brotherhood front group to lobby itself and call it “far-right.“
€1,156,162 for the European Network against Racism (ENAR) which includes FEMYSO.
ENAR leadership includes Intisar Kherigi, daughter of Rached Ghannouchi, founder of the
Tunisian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Ennahdha Party. ENAR head Michaël Privot
was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood until 2008.
€90,368 for the European Muslim Union, which Jacques Chitayat of the Canadian Institute for
Jewish Research calls “part of the Muslim Brotherhood” network.
€58,213 for the Islamic Youth Forum North Macedonia, which lists its goals as to “encourage
the universal Islamic values” and to “protect young people from deviations”.
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 5
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de6
2. Israel
2.1. EU Funding for NGOs in the Palestine Authority with Ties to Terror and BDS
According to the NGO Monitor report “Analysis of EU Funding to NGOs in 2019: Divisive
Politics, Terror Links, and Antisemitism”, at least 3 grants totalling €5.8 million involve
Palestinian NGOs with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an
EU-designated terrorist group:
2019 Grants
€2,441,589 for Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) and Ma’an Development
Centre, which have close personnel ties to the PFLP;
€2,086,757 and €611,368 for the Society of St. Yves, whose “head of advocacy” Raed Halabi
was convicted for his activity in the PFLP terror organization;
€648,000 for the Red Crescent Society for the Gaza Strip, which has close personnel ties and
organizes events with the PFLP.
Ongoing Grants
€296,600/March 2018-February 2021 for Al-Haq, whose General Director Shawan Jabarin is
associated with the PFLP.
€261,914/2018-2021 for the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), an umbrella framework with
142 NGO members based in Gaza and the West Bank, with ties to the PFLP.
€3.7 million/2017-2021 for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), the
agricultural arm of the PFLP, which works to illegally annex territory by agriculture. The
financial director of the UAWC, Samer Arbid, was arrested in 2019 for the bombing murder
of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb at Ein Buven on Aug. 23, 2019.
2.2. EU Funding for NGOs that Interfere with Israeli Democracy
According to the NGO Monitor report, “The EU supports highly politicized NGOs to influence
Israeli public attitudes on the conflict, to lobby public officials, and to intervene in the legal
system.” At least 3 grants totaling €1 million “aim to directly to influence Israeli democracy”:
€299,988 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Human Rights Defenders
Fund (HRDF), and the Movement for Freedom of Information for the program “Democratizing
Israeli Democracy: Accountable, Transparent, Inclusive and Participatory Governance and
Respect for Human Rights in Israel.”
€298,514 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Kav Laoved for the Project
“Dignity in Work: Upholding Labour Rights for Palestinian Workers Employed in Israel.”
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 6
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de7
In 2018-2020, the EU also provided ACRI with €299,988 for “Eradicating Racism and
Discrimination in Israel through Government Compliance with Decision 2254(ETP/16).”
2.2.1. EU Funding for Lawfare against the Israeli Prime Minister
Left-wing NGOs and prosecutors are waging a “lawfare” campaign against the democratically
elected Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which US legal scholar Alan Dershowitz
has called “the weaponization of criminal justice for political purposes”. Among the lawfare
NGOs seeking to undermine Israeli democracy with endless legal challenges is the Association
for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
2.2.2. EU Funding for Violent Protests in Israel
According to Likud MK and Chair of the Knesset Caucus on Combating Delegitimization &
Anti-Semitism Ariel Kallner, the NGO Human Rights Defenders Fund (EU funding 2019:
€299,988 with ACRI and MFI) provides legal counsel to “violent protesters demonstrating in
front of the official residence of the Prime Minister of Israel.”
According to conservative NGO Im Tirtzu, these protests are supported by Ir Amim (EU
funding 2019: €299,977 with Workers Advice Center), Physicians for Human Rights (EU
funding 2019: €680,277) and Breaking the Silence (EU funding 2019: €299,988 with
B'Tselem).
2.3. EU Funding for Left-Wing Israeli NGOs in Area C
The EU Commission supports left-wing Israeli NGOs active in Area C of Judea and Samaria,
which it refers to as the “Occupied Territories”, which habitually criticize Israel and have been
found to fabricate evidence, while ignoring problems with terror, violence, corruption, anti-
Semitism and lack of democracy on the Palestinian side.
€299,988 went to left-wing NGOs B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence for the project “A
Symbiotic Relationship in the West Bank: Holding Israeli Authorities Accountable for Settler
Violence.” B’tselem and Breaking the Silence both support BDS, have been charged with
fabricating evidence and seeking one-sided testimony to incriminate the Israeli Defense Forces.
On 17 March 2016, Israel’s Channel 2 news aired an exposé showing activists from Breaking
the Silence caught on camera trying to obtain sensitive information from veteran Israeli
soldiers, including details of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) military tactics, operations and
special equipment. Former Breaking the Silence spokesman Dean Issacharoff is alleged to have
fabricated testimony about physically abusing a Palestinian detainee.
Breaking the Silence was allowed to organize a photo exhibit in the EU Parliament in Brussels
Feb. 25, 2019, portraying alleged “war crimes” by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and
associating the IDF with mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. This exhibit was protested by
conservative NGO Reservists on Duty, who called the IDF a “moral Army.”
€600,000 went to Molad – The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, which identifies
itself as a left-wing think tank and opposed the Trump peace agreements, for a project called
“Closing the Confidence Gap: Restoring the Viability of the Two State Solution.” Molad
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 7
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de8
actively opposes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli sovereignty in Area
C. The EU does not fund conservative think tanks in Israel.
€299,977 went to Ir Amim and Workers Advice Center for the project “Decision 3790:
Maximising its Opportunities and Countering its Harmful Effects to Realise Socioeconomic
Rights in East Jerusalem.” Project Description: “To hold Israel as the occupying power
accountable to respect, protect and fulfil the socioeconomic rights of the Palestinian population
in East Jerusalem.”
2.4. EU Funding for Illegal Settlements in Area C of Judea and Samaria
The EU funds illegal building by the Palestinian Authority and local residents in Areas
designated as under Israeli administration (“Area C”) in the Oslo Accords 1995, as documented
by the NGO Regavim in its report “EU Involvement in Illegal Building in Area C” 2018. The
land grabs are organized by the EU-funded Palestinian Authority and supported by EU-
financed NGOs like the UAWC (agricultural land grabs) and the Society of St. Yves (lawfare).
On Oct. 19, 2019, EU representative in the PA Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff visited a PA school
constructed illegally on Israeli territory with EU funding, on a trip sponsored by left-wing
NGOs B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence, as the Jerusalem Post reported.
There is no transparency of EU funding of illegal PA building projects in Area C. “Electronic
Intifada” writes of “$2 million in EU Aid” demolished by Israel since 2015. In a 2016
publication “funded by the European Union”, “Spatial Plans for Palestinian Communities in
Area C of the West Bank”, the PA writes of 116 settlements in Area C.
The EU must act immediately to end funding of illegal PA building and create complete
transparency over all funding for illegal land grabs, which undermine the peace process and
reward corruption, theft and obstruction.
2.5. EU Funding for UNRWA
The EU funded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) with a total of US $
131,742,673 in 2019, according to the UNRWA website. UNRWA has close ties to the terrorist
organizations Hamas and Fatah, and employs anti-Semitic schoolbooks in its schools, which
have also been used to store rockets for Hamas. While it sounds like a neutral “UN”
organisation, UNRWA in fact employs PA teachers and a PA curriculum, while neglecting or
even denigrating the Israeli point of view.
In 2019, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl and several other top executives
had to resign in a massive corruption scandal. The EU is the largest contributor to UNRWA.
2.6. EU Funding for the PA
The EU funded the Palestinian Authority (PA) with € 257,450,000 for the year 2019 from the
program “PEGASE: Direct Financial Support to Recurrent Expenditures of the Palestinian
Authority”. According to the EU website, the EU provides a total of €300,000,000 to Palestine,
mainly through the “European Neighbourhood Instrument”.
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 8
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de9
The PA finances the families of killed and imprisoned terrorists with approx. $300 million a
year in so-called “Martyr’s Pensions”. As part of the “Pay-for-Slay” program, legislation
enacted by the Palestinian Authority provides an automatic pension for life for anyone who
murders a Jew, and for the family of anyone who murders a Jew.
The PA produces school books which glorify terrorists, reinforce anti-Semitic stereotypes and
advocate for the eradication of the State of Israel.
The EU funding rewards a corrupt cadre of PA apparatchiks who have not conducted
democratic elections since 2006, and provides no incentive to compromise, negotiate or
otherwise seek peace with the Israeli side. In May 2018, PA President Mahmud Abbas held a
speech before the Palestinian National Council, blaming Jews for the Holocaust, prompting
calls for his resignation. Abbas remains PA President.
2.7. Funding for Palestinian Universities with Hamas Ties
The Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) was founded 1978 by Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.
“During fighting with Israel in 2008, rockets and explosives fired at Israeli civilians were
produced by Hamas at the university. ... In 2007 it was reported that sixteen of the university’s
lecturers and teachers were elected Hamas members of the Palestinian legislature.” Former
Jerusalem bureau chief of the New York Times Steven Erlanger described the Islamic
University of Gaza as “one of the prime means for Hamas to convert Palestinians to its Islamist
cause.” According to the Israeli Defence Force, the IUD was also used as a rocket factory in
2014, which was disabled with an air strike Aug. 2, 2014.
As Professor Cory Nelson of the University of Illinois writes in “Not in Kansas Anymore:
Academic Freedom in Palestinian Universities”: “A widespread trend in the West has been to
treat Palestinian universities— including An-Najah, Birzeit, and Islamic University of Gaza—
as institutions comparable to our own,” Arutz Sheva reports. However, “IUG is not simply
politicized; it is militarized; its mission is indoctrination … An-Najah and Birzeit
(Universities), on the other hand, are deeply fraught and compromised, politicized so
thoroughly as to make their difference from Western standards one of character and kind, not
degree. All three institutions are among those Palestinian universities that create socially,
politically, and conceptually coercive environments in which academic freedom as we know it
cannot thrive.”
EU Funding 2019 for Hamas-linked Universities
€490,612 Islamic University of Gaza
€168,527 Birzeit University, Ramallah
€320,890 An-Najah National University
€980,029
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 9
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de10
3. Balkans
3.1. North Macedonia
The EU has interfered severely in North Macedonian politics, often in coordination with left-
wing NGOs like the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Foundation Open Society Macedonia
received €1,225,528 from the EU in 2019 for the project “Stay @ School – Action for Inclusion
of Roma in Primary Education” and €199,998 for the project “Access to Justice for the Most
Marginalized”.
The Civil Organization Institute for Human Rights Skopje received €66,043 for the Project
“Human Rights for All”. The media project Metamorphosis received 997,394 € in 2019 for
“Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda”. Reactor - Research in Action received
€1,241,535 for the project “Furthering Gender Equality through the EU Accession Process.”
Margins Skopje received €140,000 for the project “Access to Justice for Marginalised
Communities”. €12,002 went to the Youth Alliance Krusevo for the project “Capacity Building:
Exploring the Role of Youth in Reconciliation and Peacebuilding.”
€1,225,528 Foundation Open Society Macedonia
€199,998 Foundation Open Society Macedonia
€997,394 Metamorphosis
€77,690 Step by Step
€139,197 Macedonian Young Lawyers Association
€53,998 Helsinki Committee
€1,241,535 Reactor - Research in Action
€ 29,795 Youth Cultural Center Bitola
€140,000 Coalition Sexual and Health Rights of
Marginalized Communities - Margins Skopje
€12,002 Youth Alliance - Krusevo
€4,117,137
€58,213 went to the Islamic Youth Forum North Macedonia, which lists its goals as to
“encourage the universal Islamic values” and to “protect young people from deviations”.
3.2. Kosovo
The same pattern can be observed in Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and the rest of the Balkans, where
the EU funds “civil society” NGOs with close ties to the Open Society Foundations, such as
the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network BIRN, which received €397,204 for “Solidifying
the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists” 2019. Almost a million Euros are
shared between Metamorphosis North Macedonia (997,394 €) and Open Data Kosovo, Center
for Research Transparency and Accountability Serbia (CRTA) and NGOs in Estonia, Albania
and Montenegro for the project “Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda”. Over a
million Euros were shared between Reactor North Macedonia (€1,241,535), the Kosovo
Women’s Network and NGOs in Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Hercegovina and Sweden for
the project “Furthering Gender Equality through the EU Accession Process.”
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 10
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de11
4. China
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become one of the world’s most powerful countries.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dominates all aspects of life in it, and is responsible for
numerous grave human rights abuses: The oppression of Tibet, the Uighurs and Hong Kong,
by far the largest number of executions in the world, the suppression of Christians, Falun Gong,
Muslims and Tibetan Buddhism, the suppression of free speech, free press, free internet and
political opposition since Tiananmen Square.
The CCP has embarked on an ambitious project of global expansion and military build-up,
currently threatening the Republic of Taiwan with invasion, and seeking to delegitimize and
boycott Taiwan. The CCP is conducting a global campaign of infiltration and espionage, to
infiltrate Western media and institutions and use its economic power to silence criticism. The
US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has concluded the PRC interfered with the
2020 US Presidential elections.
Nonetheless, the EU Commission sponsored €148,160,369 worth of programs involving China
in 2019, including at least €3,258,740 of taxpayer Euros going directly to Chinese institutions
and organisations.
This includes programs costing €11,602,749 associated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology,
which has been cited as being at least partially responsible for the outbreak of the Corona
pandemic; €88,436 went directly to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been alleged
to have ties to the bioweapons program of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
€18,774,652 went to programs involving Tsinghua University, the elite cadre school of the
CCP, of which at least €223,124 went directly to Tsinghua University.
Unlike EU projects in Israel, Italy or Hungary, for example, there is no record of projects in
China that are critical of the government, which speak up for human rights, against oppression
of minorities, or against “propaganda” and “hate speech”.
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 11
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de12
5. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela
As in the case of China, there is no record of EU projects in the dictatorships of Cuba,
Venezuela and Iran that speak up for human rights, against oppression of minorities, or against
“propaganda” and “hate speech”. Programs in these countries must be approved by the
government and ruling party.
EU Commission Funding for Government-Compliant Programs in Dictatorships
€6,399,873 Cuba
€2,197,679 Iran
€3,144,539 Venezuela
5.1. Iran
On Nov. 15, 2019 protests against the Islamic regime broke out across the nation. On Nov. 16-
18, these protests were brutally struck down by regime forces, killing approx. 1500 mostly
young people, as three government officials confirmed to Reuters. Iran Human Rights Monitor
released the names of 700 dead. It was perhaps the worst crime of the Iranian regime ever, far
worse that the suppression of the Green Revolution 2009, when 72 people were killed.
The EU installed the trade mechanism INSTEX 2019 to circumvent US sanctions and allow
EU companies to trade with murderous regime.
5.2. Cuba
On Sept. 3, 2019, EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini – a former
member of the Youth League of the Italian Communist Party – met with Cuban foreign minister
Bruno Rodriguez and promised to almost triple EU taxpayer funding for the Cuban
dictatorship, from €50 million to €140 million. The EU-Cuban Cooperation Agreement 2016
had “intensified relationships and created numerous opportunities for cooperation”, Mogherini
said. She called the EU the largest investor in Cuba, and its biggest trading partner.
Following the meeting, there was a wave of 481extrajudicial arrests of opposition activists in
Cuba, as the Cuban Human Rights Observatory reported. There are currently over 100 political
prisoners in Cuba, the Observatory reports.
5.3. Venezuela
On January 23, 2019, Juan Guaido was sworn in as President of Venezuela and recognized by
the EU, but not by his predecessor, dictator Nicolas Maduro. In the clashes that ensued, approx.
4.5 million refugees fled Venezuela. At a donor’s conference on Oct. 30, 2019, the EU and its
member nations pledged €320 million in humanitarian aid. Only 7.9% of Venezuelans reported
receiving foreign aid.
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 12
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.de13
6. South Africa
The Republic of South Africa has been ruled by the revolutionary African National Congress
since 1994, which has instituted strict racial quotas (Broad-Based Black Economic
Empowerment - BBBEE) and actively discriminates against the ethnic Afrikaner minority.
With its racist policies and corruption, the ANC government has virtually destroyed the South
African economy. It has failed to act against a campaign of horrendous violence against South
African farmers (plaasmoorde) and denies its existence. The ANC government continues to
raise the potential of land grabs (“expropriation without compensation”) despite the negative
effect this has on foreign investment, while many ANC leaders reap the benefits of wealth and
corruption, partly made possible by generous foreign aid. South African President Cyril
Ramaphosa began his career as a union organizer and is now one of the richest men in Africa,
while his country spirals into poverty, violence and blackouts.
The EU Commission spent €171,171,076 on programs involving South Africa in 2019,
including €36,414,547 directly for projects in South Africa. At least €3,599,614 went to NGOs
with direct ties to Open Society.
The EU Financial Transparency System lists €18,700,000 in funding directly for the Republic
of South Africa. Groups operating in South Africa must comply with the racist BBBEE laws.
Racist policies are not permitted in EU institutions.
The EU funds NGOs in South Africa which pursue the left-wing agenda advanced by the Open
Society Foundations, such as the Southern Africa Human Rights Litigation Centre (SALC),
which “supports human rights lawyers in Southern Africa countries with expert legal advice,
technical support and funding”. The SALC is a joint project of the International Bar
Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern
Africa (OSISA). SALC was funded with €1,992,350 by the EU 2019, along with 5 other
NGOs, for the project “Out & Proud: LGBTI Equality and Rights in Southern Africa“.
The African Policing Oversight Forum, which lists the Open Society Foundations among its
Primary Funders, received €475.000 from the EU for „Developing the Capacity of South
African Police Service to Prevent and Respond to Xenophobic Violence and Related Hate
Crimes“.
NGO Gender Links, which lists the Open Society Foundations among its sponsors, received
€142,500 from the EU for „Ending Gender-Based Violence Community by Community in
Botswana“.
Gender Links and the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Trust (WLSA), a partner
of OSISA, received €989,764 from the EU for „Socio-Economic Empowerment through
Gender-Responsive Policies, Legislation and Action“ in Lesotho.
There was no record of EU funding to fight massive government corruption, astronomical
crime rates, infrastructure collapse, incitement of racist violence by radical hate preachers like
Julius Malema or Andile Mngxitama, or the waves of hideous violence and torture killings of
South African farmers.
Joachim Kuhs, MdEP E-Mail: joachim.kuhs@europarl.europa.eu 13
Tel.: +32 228 45784 Web: www.joachimkuhs.deYou can also read
